A Thriller from the Death Zone

Writer Amy McCulloch was a young adventurer looking to challenge herself when she set her sights on 26,781-foot Manaslu, in the Himalayas. On a guided expedition, she encountered the expected risks of high-altitude mountaineering, as well as a darker threat she’d never imagined: members of her own team harassing and sexually propositioning her in an environment where she was incredibly vulnerable. She returned home with a harrowing true tale of resilience—and an idea for an epic novel. Her resulting debut thriller, Breathless, is a chilling story of murder in the so-called Death Zone. In this episode, McCulloch shares her path into the world of climbing and the unsettling experiences that became the basis of her book.